The injury-riddled Red Bulls lost in New England yet again, their 2-0 defeat running their winless skid in Gillette Stadium to 18 games.

They coughed up an early goal to Lee Nguyen and never recovered

“First of all, I failed as a captain,’’ said midfielder Joel Lindpere, who wore the captain’s armband in the absence of Thierry Henry – and five other starters. “Lately, some games we start too late, especially away. When you start too late playing, then it’s difficult to win, in this league especially. Away matches are really tough for every team, and that’s what it’s all about.’’

Playing without all-stars Henry and Heath Pearce, as well as Rafa Marquez, Teemu Tainio, Markus Holgersson and Jan Gunnar Solli, they squandered a chance to move into first place in the Eastern Conference. Now they’re sitting at third with 31 points from a 9-5-4 record, two points behind co-leaders D.C. United and Sporting Kansas City.

“It’s annoying,’’ said coach Hans Backe. “We haven’t played two games in a row with a full team.’’

In the 24th minute, the Red Bulls conceded quickly. New England’s Chris Tierney had the ball on the left wing and cut it to the top of the box to Nguyen, who controlled it and fired it with his right foot past rookie keeper Ryan Meara and into the bottom left corner of the net.

A.J. Soares hit the woodwork and Brett Schneider almost made it 2-0, but his shot was cleared off the line by defender Wilman Conde. The Red Bulls had the better of play in the second half and Kenny Cooper nearly equalized in the 56th minute, but hit the right post. Jerry Bengston pounced on a loose ball with six minutes left for the insurance tally.

“Tough first half for us; we could’ve been two. Responded well in second half. If Kenny (Cooper) scored…we could’ve picked up a tie,’’ said Backe. “We are without six regulars. I can’t expect much more from these guys. They did what they could do with work rate in the second half.’’

Now the Red Bulls kick off a three-game homestand at 4 p.m. Sunday against Seattle Sounders FC. They’re the only team in MLS with an unbeaten record at home.

“It’s very important now we can show how tough it is for other tams to come to Red Bull Arena and beat us. It hasn’t happened this year and hopefully it will not happen at all,’’ said Lindpere. “We just need to get the fill team together and start from the first minute.’’

Both Designated Players Henry and Marquez should be back against the Sounders, and Backe has expressed hope that Holgersson could return by that game as well, with Pearce expected to miss a total of two weeks.

“It’s a tough loss on the road. The win would’ve been first place outright; but we’ve got to go back, figure what we can do better. We’ve got a big game on Sunday with Seattle coming in,’’ said Stephen Keel, who got the start at centerback with Pearce, Holgersson and Marquez all out.

“Every team has injuries; it’s no excuse. We’ve had injuries before, and we’ve won games. It’s not an excuse. We’ve got to bounce back and pick up three points at home.’’